New Transportation CIO Mintz to start May 1

The Transportation Department has tapped Dan Mintz of Sun Microsystems Inc. as its new CIO, replacing Dan Matthews, who left the agency in December to return to the private sector.

Mintz will start in his position May 1, a DOT spokesman said.

Mintz currently serves as Sun's director of government compliance programs, where he manages security, legal and regulatory compliance for the company's government sector. Prior to that he worked in various consulting roles for the private sector, including a stint at Lockheed Martin Corp.

He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Maryland.

Mintz is coming to Transportation on the heels of the agency's move to a new building in Washington.

Acting CIO Jacquelyn Patillo, who also serves as deputy CIO, said this morning that the agency's IT priorities can be summed up in six words: 'New building, new building, new building.'

Patillo, speaking at a breakfast in Fairfax, Va., sponsored by market research firm Input Inc., said most of the IT work associated with the move has been contracted out, but some logistical work, such as having data that tells her office where each DOT employee is located within the building, remains.